Epic

In general terms, an epic is a grandiose literary history of a people. This usually includes founding stories, battles, and etiologies. Although the components of these tales may seem absurd at the moment in which they are set and/or created, truly successful epics transcend eras and become accepted in times far removed from their inception points. Oftentimes, myths accompany epics as driving forces or scapegoats for the more extreme aspects of the stories. Epics that survive their inception describe ideologies that are bigger than the epics themselves.